Helping the homeless

  • Published
  • By Michael P. Kleiman
  • 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AFB, N.M. --  Editor's Note: In April, Kleiman volunteered several days at the Union Rescue Mission, which has served the homeless population of Los Angeles since 1891. The Nucleus presents his account of that experience to encourage volunteerism.

Glamour and glitz, beaches and beautiful, suntanned bodies. This was the Los Angeles I knew of and personally witnessed.

In the summer of 2011, my wife and I traveled to the City of Angels for a weeklong vacation to experience the typical tourist side of the country's second-largest city.

But a few months after the trip, she suggested taking some time off from work to do something for others. Her idea sparked my interest in returning to Los Angeles not as a tourist, but as a volunteer, to help serve the largest homeless population in America.

According to a 2011 census conducted by Los Angeles County, approximately 51,000 homeless persons reside in the area on any given night; most within a 50-block area of downtown known as Central City East, but referred to as "Skid Row."

An urban ministry in Los Angeles referred me to the Union Rescue Mission, the largest private homeless shelter in the United States. Founded in 1891 as a Christian missionary outreach, the organization operates a five-story facility in the heart of Skid Row, featuring a chapel, computer-based learning center, client residential areas and a gymnasium. URM offers emergency and long-term assistance, such as three daily meals, shelter, medical and dental care, recovery programs, transitional housing, legal services, job training, education and counseling.

I headed to Los Angeles not quite sure what to expect.

Departing the bus at the corner of 7th Street and South San Pedro Street early Monday morning gave me little sign as to what I was in for, until I walked the two blocks north to URM. Multitudes of homeless people, some sleeping on blankets, others in tents or just on the sidewalk, lined my path. In addition, many walked past, blurting expletives or whatever topic infiltrated their minds at the time. Upon arriving at URM, I checked in with security and then met with volunteer coordinator Alexander Cornejo II, who showed me to the facility kitchen where I would work for the first few hours. After laboring with food preparation and equipment sanitizing, I then served the remainder of the week in the Volunteer Department, performing data entry.

"Union Rescue Mission volunteers are part of something bigger. We really need their help; they are a critical component in our outreach to Los Angeles' homeless population," said Cornejo. "They walk away impacted by those they have served and by their own service."

I was also able to meet and interact with several URM staff and clients. The 121-year-old organization assists single men, single women and families.

One of the more enlightening aspects of my time there involved walking from URM to my hotel at the end of each day. Turning the corner at 6th Street, going west for more than a mile through downtown, I encountered dozens of homeless people with their possessions on both sides of the street, heading west to the intersection of San Julian Street.

Although I had volunteered 20 years ago at a homeless shelter in Kansas City, Mo., I had never witnessed the extent of homelessness, or the number of helping agencies, which exist in the City of Angels.

I will never forget my last two-block venture down South San Pedro Street on a rainy Friday morning. Passing homeless huddled in a myriad of blankets, I saw two rats bathing themselves in a car hubcap. At that instant, I remembered a song written by Sting and performed by The Police, titled "Driven to Tears." The first nine lines of the 1980 tune really hit home:

How can you say that you're not responsible?
What does it have to do with me?
What is my reaction, what should it be?
Confronted by this latest atrocity
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Hide my face in my hands, shame wells in my throat
My comfortable existence is reduced to a shallow meaningless party

In retrospect, the week I spent at URM and downtown Los Angeles was one of the most rewarding and enlightening periods of my life. I have learned that in order to grow, we have to surrender self and give to others. That is what volunteering is all about. I encourage you to contemplate giving of your talents and time to assist someone else.

For more information on Union Rescue Mission, visit http://www.urm.org/ or call 213-347-6300. Locally, check out these homeless resources: http://www.joyjunction.org/ and http://www.abqrescue.org.